Suffolk County, NY - March 2, 2017 - Commissioner of Health Services, Dr. James Tomarken invites mature residents to attend the county’s national award-winning program focused on falls prevention. The program is intended to empower mature adults to carry out behaviors that reduce the risks of falls and improve their quality of life.

These programs are ‘Stepping On’, a CDC model program, comprises a seven-week course that focuses on balance and strength, home and community safety, vision, safe footwear and medication review. The program has proven to reduce the number of falls for participants by 31 percent. A second option entitled “Staying Independent for Life” covers much of the information that is provided in the ‘Stepping On’ program in a condensed two-hour session.

Between 2011 and 2016 these programs collectively reached over 11,406 senior citizens to teach them about how to prevent falls in the home and live independently.

Additional programs will be rolled out in communities throughout Suffolk County over the course of the year. For more information about Suffolk County Falls Prevention Programs, call the Suffolk County Department of Health Services at 631-853-6492 or visit: here

Watch this video to learn more about what your peers are doing at Suffolk County’s falls-prevention programs: here